The Roman and Greek Ruins influence on Louis Kahn

The Roman and Greek Ruins influence on Louis Kahn

With its permanent disposition, epic narration, rational order and stringent building logic, Louis Kahn’s architecture fulfills his most original expression as “architecture”. From Salk Institute for Biological Studies to Dhaka Convention Center, Louis Kahn repeatedly interprets the same theme: what is architecture? The structural consideration, the building logic expression, prototype and order, these are all the issues of Kahn’s focus during his pursuing of architecture itself.

Kahn is a man pursuing truth and essence, his thought is powerful and forceful, sincere and wise. But his architectural theory is abstruse, without leaving any systematic works. Therefore, this research tried to do a comprehensive and outlined statement of Kahn’s architectural ideas and design theories mentioned in different times, occasions and forms to prove that the entire ideology of Kahn’s architecture theory is rooted in the Roman and Greek Ruins that follows the order of the nature that expand for centuries.

The “Order” Theory of Louis Kahn

The Ode is was published in the Journal of Architecture in Yale University in 1955. At that time Kahn’s theory was not mature, so after the article was published, Kahn clarified, added and modified for several view points in the article for many times. “Oder” is one of the most fundamental as well as the important starting points of Kahn’s all theories. Many scholars translate it as “Order”, but Kahn’s original meaning was not “Order”, for it is comprehended as Order by others, Kahn was very unhappy and he clarified in public: “Usually, when people refer to “Order”, they all mean Orderliness. However, this is totally different from what I said as Oder. What I mean is not Orderliness, as Orderliness is related with design, but nothing to do with Oder. And Orderliness has nothing to do with Order, it is only an understanding condition about existing and a feeling toward existing feel”[1]. For some scholars mentioned Kahn’s “Order” is a kind of “existing will”, Kahn continued to clarify here:” From it, people can feel the existing will of something. We can say this existing will is existed as a kind of form, a kind of need, and people can feel like that.”[2] According to Kahn’s view, Order is totally different from Orderliness, Orderliness is a rule controlled by a kind of will. The tidiness and principles of Orderliness should depend on following the will of the rules, so that orderliness can be created. What Kahn wants to say is the will does not exist in what he said as “Order”, rather, it is the Orderliness makes people feel the existing will. He mentioned in Form and Design in 1961: “Order is the creator of belonging; the will doesn’t exist in Order itself. The reason why I choose Order to replace it, is because of human’s knowledge is too weak to express ideas.”

The Oder that Kahn said is certain” existence”, it does not have the entity, nor has any spirit or will. It is everywhere and includes everything. It creates all things on earth and everything runs in Oder in an orderly manner. It has permanent characteristics and existed before the universe is created, it still can’t vanish after the universe is destroyed. Therefore permanent for it still doesn’t exist. It has such force but does not have the will, all are natural. All things in natures are its “images” in universe. Kahn said: “Nature doesn’t have consciousness; nature doesn’t care the beauty of sunset.”[3]

To the level of Roman and Greek Architecture, we see trend of the term Order in many forms. The major symbolic thing of ancient Greek and Roman architecture is that they need to establish order to the entire society that ruler tend to use large structure as a symbol of its power and the human nature had the inborn nature to respect columns and high ceilings with fear and respect and this form in interpreted as “Order”. This design from ancient Greek and Roman Architecture certainly fits the design theory of Louis Kahn.

The Naturalistic of Louis Kahn

In Louis Kahn’s eyes, the basis of creation’s starting point and final judgment is not the speeches or works by any masters, but merely whether the creation is following “Oder”, whether everything is just like the objects created by nature: a kind of condition seems always be there, seems exists there forever, seems it should exist there. Everything is perfect and harmonious, reaching the peak of exact balance. Most ancient Architecture ruins were built thousands of years ago, but they had long lasting influence for the future generations. This is what he calls “nature”, that the creation of buildings should be perfect and natural, just like any objects created by nature. He said: “All things created by nature records what is created and how to create.” “Nature, at the moment of creating all things, records every step during the creating process, which can be seen as the seed.” “I think that form is comprehended by nature and put into practice.”[4] He is acting the omniscient creator.

Kahn believes “nature is unconscious”. Now that it is heartless, unconscious and senseless, it doesn’t care what it does, and everything is according to their naturalness. “The natural law tells us how correct the colors, weight and positions of the pebbles scattering over the beach are, rather than saying them “correct”, I’d prefer saying “can’t reject”, since those pebbles are placed there according to the harmoniousness of natural law and placed there not intentionally.” Kahn also said:” Only humans care truth, not nature. What I call the “property of matter” is different from “human nature”.

In fact, the influence from the ancient Greek and Roman architecture create the whole set of Kahn’s design philosophy is all created in the paradoxical movement between the naturalness of property of matter and the creation of human nature. Architecture is materialistic while architect is human. How humans conduct “human” creation and in harmonious with the materialistic nature, so as to make the buildings get the permanent nature-created-like disposition is the impetus of Kahn’s design philosophy.

The Soul Theory of Louis Kahn

Kahn believes human will always exists in the creation process, and as an entity, buildings will never present the sublime concept of “architecture” in human’s soul. Ancient Greek architecture had similar ideology as mentioned earlier. Architecture is a spirit, which is an idea conveyed to human’s spiritual world by the will of God. “Order” is an existence having no will. But after humans comprehend this existence, they must conduct the creation permeated with human will, which is an embodiment of human’s souls integrated with the architectural spirit in architecture[5].

Kahn once said:” To me, life is a kind of existence of having souls, while death is an existence without soul. Both of them belong to existence. I believe soul is everywhere, not everyone has their independent souls, but they borrow part from the big universal soul.”[6] When souls having this universality, all things on earth find the basis for ultimate harmony and unification.

But part of the soul that the big universal soul empowers to all things is not sufficiently making souls to become an existence of nature itself. Although souls from all things on earth are coming from one, but soul and nature are still different categories. Kahn said:” In creation field, conscious man is opposite to unconscious nature. I have an idea in my mind that I feel the dichotomy existence between man and nature. Therefore what man can do is nature can’t do, and for everything of the nature, man can’t do.” He added:” Nature has no conscious, spirit has. The spirit asks for life, and the natural maker makes life possible. We except there’s desire for man to live, the nature can’t make.” Here the natural maker is not referring to nature can create utensils, but rather that utensils are created according to their own properties of matter. This is a personified saying, so Kahn said:” Utensils are created by nature. Properties of matter: a kind of harmonious system, of which nature is not dictatorial, but does based on the interrelationship of what we know as “Oder.” Strangely, Louis Kahn is not only see man as the main body of having will and souls, he even see the lifeless light, masonry and arch as having will and their own desires existence. He believes Order’s omnipresent and he believes Order empowers all things incomparable spirit. This is the so-called nature is created according to “Oder”. Although Kahn repeatedly states that nature has no will, however, he always believes there must have certain ought to be disposition in nature creation. The later work in ancient Greek architectures had shown signs of this harmony relationship between men and the nature. The ancient Greeks advocate human body, whether sculpture or architecture, they believe that the proportion of the human body is the most perfect. Great architect Vitruvius quoted theories of the ancient Greeks: "building must be developed in strict accordance with the proportion of each part of the body style."[7] So, the proportion of ancient Greek architecture and specifications, its external shape column style completely. consistent with all human-scale, with physical beauty of its style fundamental basis of their shape can be said that people's style, shape, appearance, demeanor beautiful art show, and their proportions and norms, it can be said that the body proportions, the image reflects the structure of the law. So, these are to have a vibrant pillar of sublime beauty, because they behave as human beings are superior pride and noble.,  This seems some paradoxical, but as a matter of fact, that nature’s having no will is just the basic precondition for all things free existence in nature. Though this is not “order”, it is something similar to order and a desire from nature itself. The following famous dialogue for Kahn’s expression to the spirits of everything:

 “I asked the brick: What do you want?

The brick said: I want arch.

I said: Arch is expensive; I can give you a lintel.

The brick said: I still want arch.”[8]

Kahn saw the soul of all things in nature and he emphasized that architects must respect his materials and discovers their souls and their own desires. He didn’t discuss why any more, maybe for Kahn, this is the truth that doesn’t need to be demonstrated. To a level, these ancient buildings had impact on him and he is just another messenger to further extend these ideology to the future generations. The soul of these ancient buildings had long last effect on him and he sees the message in them and he believes that architecture design should create a soul and character for these building.

The Prototype Theory of Louis Kahn

Louis Kahn had been always pursuing the permanence of all things. However, during the exploration of the permanent existence, he discovered only to continuously trace back the original point of the architecture and find a “prototype” of typology, the permanent disposition of the architecture can be empowered. In Kahn’s own words:” What was has always been, what is has always been, what will be has always been.” In ancient Greek and Roman when there’s very little knowledge and no CAD software, what was left is the usage of prototype. The prototype in Kahn’s thinking is to find the essence of all things. The architect starts from a room, the library’s prototype is a man walking into the light, with a book in hand, and the school’s prototype is a group of people talking under a tree. He adopted the early usage of Greek art, as the history stated, the King Caesar would gather his architects together and tell them what an image he would like to have and then let the architects develop a prototypes by themselves.[9] The exploration to prototype is with strong personal color, almost can say it is a kind of personal sensibility and poetic imagination. But these prototypes are so strong and poetic, that it can’t be denied in terms of rationality and sensitivity. This series of exploration to the prototype and essence by Kahn discovers the most poetic architectural world, also making his architecture to have the incomparable permanent disposition.

These so-called “prototypes” repeatedly occur in Kahn’s design and are constantly interpreted, which gradually becomes part of Kahn’s architectural language, expressing Kahn’s ultimate rational thinking on architecture (especially function).

The Light Theory of Louis Kahn

Of all the religions, light has been empowered divine significance, Kahn even sees light as the life of architecture. In Kahn’s eyes, there are two distinctively different dispositions, one is the “natural light”, and the other is the “performance light”. In the ancient Greek and Roman architecture, the natural light is the source of all power in the world and certainly, this religious belief had inherited itself to the design of Louis Kahn.

The natural light

The point of discussion for Kahn to the natural light is the inseparableness between architecture and light. In his discussion of “Architecture and Light”, Kahn introduced the symbiosis between light and space. In the International Congress for Modern Architecture (CIAM) in Otterlo in 1959, Kahn pointed out: “The architecture is the creation of space, while the essence of space is to present, that is to say, making people clearly see the composition relation of the parts. And space and light are inseparable.” Therefore Kahn believes all things concerned with space should all start from the light point of view. Kahn said:” You try to find out the starting point of architecture, so as to clearly describe the architectural space, therefore you are absolutely clear about the architectural space, just like to be created. This starting point is the standpoint of light. Space without natural light can’t be called architectural space. The artificial light can’t present architectural space, since the architectural space must reflect the disposition of time and season: a subtle disposition that can’t be conveyed by incandescent bulbs. What can really give you the architectural space feeling is the natural light.” In his notes of travelling to Europe, Kahn also wrote:” The structure is a building design of underground light, and the end products such as the arch, dome and column are all the structures corresponding to sunshine characteristics. The fine changes created by natural light with the shifting of seasons and time empowers different disposition of space. Light seems to enter space and adjust it.” As to how to establish relationship between space and light, Kahn said:” An architecture should be looked as the harmonious relationship of the space under light, even the space intends to (note the meaning of Kahn’s “intends to”) be a dark room, at least there should have some degree of light enters with a mysterious opening to inform the dim level. Every space must be defined by structure and light characteristics.”

Kahn sees the column and structure as the creator of light. My personal understanding is Kahn doesn’t think column can shine by itself; instead, he wants to explain for the light in the architectural space, column expresses light. In 1959, Kahn wrote down the memos of several designs at hand, of which he had the following comments to Dhaka’s hall:” In the case of the hall, I introduce a kind of unit that explores the light into the room. If you see a row of columns, you can say: The choice of column places is the choice of light source. The column becomes the boundary of light space; think on the contrary, the column itself can also be regarded as the virtual space. If the space is bigger, the column itself can shine, and the hollow parts become rooms. Columns like this can support complicated modeling to support space and introduce light into space.” In fact, so long as we study carefully we can find that in many proposals, Kahn tries to “specialization” the structure. The structure itself is defined as certain space and this space must be “illuminant body”. This illuminant body defined by structure becomes a part full of poetry and power in architecture. For instance, in Dhaka National Hospital, Kahn uses arches to form a succession of parallel structural system and not to empower their specific function. But when the parallel arch becomes one by one rooms created by the structure, people are walking in the structure. At this time, the space created by the structure is shaped and formed by light. In fact it is just the structure that creates the light in space.

Kahn’s architecture is not merely the “wonderful, correct and magnificent scene”, by careful and deep consideration on how light enters every room, the light and building becomes a whole, the architecture gets life with light, whereas the light has its most marvelous presentation in the architecture.

Performance light

After Kahn’s deep understanding of the natural light, he began to realize all matters have light characteristics. In the International Association of Societies of Design Research in 1959, Kahn pointed out in his thesis:” I believe substance is the light illuminated, hills, the earth, streams, the air, even ourselves are the light illuminated.” In 1967, Kahn pointed out in the paper seminar of England Music Academy: “I feel the wonder of the discussion show and the inspiration of longing for show in this academic seminar. The inspiration is the feeling to the absolute beginning, just like a threshold where stillness and light meet here: the stillness has the existing power while the light empowers some forms.” In graphical representation, Kahn specifically expressed his opinion to the threshold of creation and both ends of the threshold: before the creation is a desire wanting to exist, it is silent, without the state of whether or not the design is bright or dark. At this time the creation doesn’t have specific forms. If you want to transcend this state, you must cross a threshold, and this threshold is the “inspiration”, it is the imminent moment of creation. Crossing the threshold, you come to the light place. All works are presented in the sun; the works themselves are a kind of light, which can be clearly presented at the end. Kahn intends to demonstrate an immeasurable creation process, and this near oracle creation makes us take a glimpse of when masters are creating, the inspired scheming. But can this process be learned?

For the stillness discussion, Kahn set the pyramid as an example to explain what is contained in tranquility is not the general expression desire. In Architecture: Stillness and Light, Kahn said:” Let us go back to the pyramid times. After listening to the noise by industrial environment, we can especially experience the stillness that pyramids sending out, of which we can feel man’s desire for expression. This appeal has already been existed before the first stone settled.” In his final speech when he’s alive, Kahn said:” Stillness is a force, of which the will power and desire for expressing self are grown. The expression desire is speechless, nameless, and weightless.” What I puzzled is Kahn’s so-called “stillness” is originated from the substance itself, or from man’s understanding to substance? Kahn only said stillness is “a kind of desire of existence and expression”, and pointing out itself is also light. Although opposite to light, it’s still a kind of form to the light. By the presentation of works, humans satisfy their souls’ disturbing desires and find the reason for their own existence.

Louis Kahn’s Understanding on Architecture

Architecture will never change

Where does the architecture go? This is a question that sought after in any times. Kahn said:” Today in the class, someone mentions the issue of where the architecture going, that is very easy to answer, because architecture will go nowhere, even in the past, architecture went nowhere. I point out all the essence, all of the future, all of the past; they all existed there very early on. Because he is a thing that worth noticing, that is to say all the expression fields can express is purely because it has already existed in man’s nature early on, otherwise he can’t be expressed. Once he is expressed, he will be permanently indelible. Architecture learns to change, but architecture will never change.”

The spirituality of architecture

Kahn believes architecture only exists in man’s heart, he deliberately differentiates the building and the architecture and he insists to believe building is not architecture, because the majority buildings are built for the market needs, they are entirely not belonging to architecture field. Kahn has been always believed architecture will not exist. As a matter of fact, what he calls as architecture does not have outlook, it is only a kind of spiritual state. He said:” Architecture doesn’t have images, the building has. It is a spiritual atmosphere. By igniting people’s mood in this industry, it arouses the joys in people’s heart. And the expression will is expressed with the help of architecture. This regenerates the mystical, even the stereotypes that have long been believed or as trivial as the triviality of a worm.” Kahn regards architecture as the collective body of spirit and exists in people’s heart.

For Kahn, any buildings are not mighty achievement, Kahn will not sing high praise to the sublimity of architecture itself, because works never lag behind people forever, works can’t be finished, nor can they present people’s internal and integrated yearning. But on the other hand, the architecture is just like a sublime god. Architecture is sometimes comprehended as materialization to Order by Kahn, it seems like the envoys dispatched by god to the earth. Kahn said:” People create an architectural work as an offering to architectural spirit. As a spirit, the architecture doesn’t know style, doesn’t know technology too, and even doesn’t know methods, only waiting can show the moment of itself.

The nature of architecture

Kahn believes architecture permanently exists in people’s spiritual world; it is a reflection of Order to people’s spiritual world. So there must exist some constant attribute, which deviates from the “images” of change. Kahn said: “Architecture is sprouting from the creation by a room.” The nature of architecture is just a room. “The shaping of space is simultaneously the shaping of light. When light is hindered, the rhythm is also broken and music character is therefore destroyed. However, music character has the unparalleled significance to architecture.” “The structure of room must be obvious within a room. I believe it is the light giver. The square room requires unique light to read the squareness of a room.” “Entering your room know your personality and your views of the whole life. But in a big room, it is a gathering of all the people of the world are brothers; the harmonious relationship replaces the thought.” This is very consistent with Kahn’s focus to the starting point of things. Only by resuming the architect to a room, can we find where the starting point is of different kinds of architectures. On the basis of room, Kahn also believes the genotype of the downtown street rooms:” The mutually agreed rooms of downtown street humans, a gift of the masters of both sides of the street rooms to cite to exchange the necessities of daily life.”

Obviously here the so-called “architecture” by Kahn is not the “architecture” of our general sense. Our architecture is normally referring to the architectural entity, which is a specific building. However, what Kahn refers to the architecture is an abstract “architect” concept, which is the sum of all buildings; it is a conceptual existence having all characteristics and wills of buildings.

Summary

The design idea and theoretical tests of Louis Kahn are mostly few isolated words in a series of lectures or the sporadic description hidden in clipped sketches and notes. Because of different times and occasions as well as broad time span of these theories, also Kahn’s thoughts are constantly evolving and improving during this process, it is often has the fragmented imagery, even there are scholars think some words are inconsistently suspected. However, in Kahn’s theory, we can always feel a seemingly clear but never specifically mentioned logic, which exists in all of Kahn’s understanding to structure, material, space and light. This logic had huge influence from the ancient Greek and Roman ruins and although it’s hard to find the basis to prove its findings, but its reasonableness is even harder to be denied.